Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

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An emergency manager might be in Detroit's future, but Gov. Rick Snyder hasn't offered the job to anyone.

He does, however, have a short list of candidates ready in case a financial review team report shows there's no other option for the financially distressed city.

Snyder said he expects to make a decision on Detroit's financial future in the next few weeks.

"We're talking to people," Snyder said after a speech Monday in Detroit before members of the Detroit Regional Chamber. "But I won't speculate about a particular candidate."

The right candidate has to have the financial credentials to handle the job, Snyder said, and the ability to work with people in a collaborative fashion, which has been a challenge in Detroit.

"The role of the state is not to run the City of Detroit. We're here to be a partner," he said.

But after a financial review team finishes analyzing the city's finances before the end of February, Snyder may be in a position of having to name someone to run the city. He asked the team to also look at the financial decisions the mayor and Detroit City Council have made in recent months, as well as the long-term liabilities of pension and retiree health care costs.

"We don't want to be in a situation where this just keeps going on for many decades to come," he said. "There are a lot of great things going on in Detroit, but the financial problems need to be resolved."

The state Legislature passed a new emergency manager law in December after voters repealed an old, more rigid emergency manager law by a 53%-47% margin in November. The new law gives financially distressed cities and school districts four options once a financial emergency is determined:

• A consent agreement.

• Mediation.

• An emergency manager.

• Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

In another change from the old emergency manager law, the state -- rather than the cash-strapped local unit -- will pay the salary of the emergency manager and other related costs.

Speaking about Belle Isle, Snyder said it's too late for the city to come back and capitalize on a state proposal to turn the property into a state park for this coming season. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing supported the proposal, which would have brought a $6 million state investment in the park, but the council wouldn't even vote on the deal before a state-imposed deadline.

The $6 million was included in the 2013-14 budget proposed by Snyder last week, in part, because the council's inaction came too late to take it out of the budget.

"But I also wanted to show that I was dead serious about money for Belle Isle," he said.

So while the money won't be available for 2013, "We're going to follow through in what we were going to do for 2014," Snyder added.